Patient Privacy

The Oral Health Center (OHC) takes your privacy seriously. We want to tell you about our privacy practices to protect your personal health information.

How do we use health information?

• OHC uses your health information to determine the most appropriate oral health care for you and your family. We also use your health information to process claims with insurers for oral health services we provide to you.

We comply with all applicable state and federal laws, including any laws that impact our ability to use your health information for claims processing and operations.

Other Services

We may also use information to:

• Inform you of research opportunities or benefits for alternative treatments.
• Tell you about our services.
• Communicate with family or friends involved in your care.
• Communicate with other healthcare providers or business associates for treatment, payment, or health care operations. Business associates must follow our privacy rules.
• Communicate with the sponsor of your health plan.

Information we share

There are limited times when we are permitted or required to disclose health information without your signed permission. These situations are listed below:

• To protect victims of abuse or neglect for federal and state health oversight activities such as fraud investigations.
• For judicial or administrative proceedings.
• If required by law or for law enforcement.
• To coroners, medical examiners and funeral directors.
• For specialized government functions such as national security and intelligence.
• To Workers' Compensation if you are injured at work.
• To a correctional institution if you are an inmate.

All other uses and disclosures, not previously described, may only be made with your signed authorization. You may revoke your authorization at any time.

Our Responsibilities

OHC is required by law to:

• Maintain the privacy of your health information.
• Provide this notice of our duties and privacy practices.
• Abide by the terms of the notice currently in effect.
• We reserve the right to change privacy practices, and make the new practices effective for all the information we maintain. Revised notices will be available to you at our website www.oralhealthcenter.org and upon request, mailed to you.

Your Rights

You have the right to:

• Request that we restrict how we use or disclose your health information. We may not be able to comply with all requests.
• Request that we use a specific telephone number or address to communicate with you.
• Inspect and copy your health information (fees will apply).*
• Request additions or corrections to your health information.*
• Receive an accounting of how your health information was disclosed (excludes disclosures for treatment, payment, healthcare operations and some required disclosures, as well as disclosures that you authorize).*
• Obtain a paper copy of this notice even if you receive it electronically.

Requests followed by an asterisk (*) must be in writing.

Financial Privacy Policy

We do not give your financial information to any person or persons not affiliated with OHC. It is important to us that you understand what financial information we gather and how we use it to administer your benefits and serve you better.

• Financial Information - In order to provide your dental services, we may gather financial information about you from you, your plan sponsor, or other oral health providers; with respect to claims, co-payments, and premium payments.
• Security - In compliance with state and federal standards, electronic, procedural and physical safeguards are in place to limit the collection and use of non-public information to the minimum necessary to provide you with quality products and services. Access to this information is limited to a "need to know" basis for our employees to perform their jobs. This applies to you whether you are a former or current patient.

Security

• In certain areas OHC uses industry-standard secure socket layer (SSL) encryption to protect data transmissions. SSL encrypts information transferred between you and the server and renders it unreadable to anyone who may intercept the information.

Cookies

• In certain areas of our site, OHC may set and access cookies on your computer. We will notify you when a cookie is being set.
• Through both Internet Explorer and Netscape there are menu options that allow you to accept all, some, or none of your incoming cookies. In addition, the "warn before accepting" feature is present in both, if you want to screen your incoming cookies. You may also delete any stored cookies as well.

Browser Compatibility

To navigate our website, you must use an SSL enabled browser such as Internet Explorer (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie) or Netscape Navigator (http://home.netscape.com/browsers). The 128-bit high encryption version of either browser is recommended for the highest level of protection possible.

To Contact Us
If you have any comments or suggestions, please send an e-mail to info@oralhealthcenter.org or contact us at 508.329.2250 or by mail at:

Oral Health Center
Attn: Corporate Compliance Officer
2400 Computer Drive
Westborough, MA 01581

If you would like to exercise your rights, or if you feel your privacy rights have been violated, or if you need more information, contact our Corporate Compliance Officer at 508.329.2250, or by mail at:

Oral Health Center
Attn: Corporate Compliance Officer
2400 Computer Drive
Westborough, MA 01581
All complaints will be investigated and you will not suffer retaliation for filing a complaint. You may also file a complaint regarding health information with the Secretary of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C.

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